The mainstream romances of chivalry
studied here by Dan Eisenberg are those long, imaginary prose biographies
of knights errant which the Spaniards of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
called libros de caballerías and which included Montalvo's
edition of Amadís de Gaula and the books written in Castilian
subsequent to it, the same books known to Cervantes and dealt with in the
Quijote. The Amadís and the Quijote themselves
receive ample treatment in Eisenberg's study, especially with regard to their
relationship to the great corpus of romances of chivalry published in the
years between them. These are the books to which he directs his attention
most of all. And although he states that the romances of chivalry are
not treated exhaustively in this book (xiii), he certainly does manage
in it to rectify many long-held misconceptions about them and to provide
plenty of sound bibliographical, historical and critical information about
them that has long been needed, for few have gone over even a small part
of the ground that Eisenberg has covered in this field.Romances of Chivalry in the Spanish Golden
Age follows Eisenberg's admirable critical edition of one of the best
and most popular of those books in their time, Diego Ortúñez
de Calahorra's Espejo de príncipes y cavalleros, in volumes
193-98 of the Clásicos Castellanos series (Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, 1975)
and his Castilian Romances of Chivalry in the Sixteenth Century: A
Bibliography (London: Grant & Cutler, 1979), an indispensable guide,
as the work being reviewed here is sure to be. Eisenberg first wrote several
portions of this book as independent essays, and four of these are articles
which previously appeared in well-known journals. But all the chapters are
arranged in a logical, cohesive sequence. The book is introduced by a
Proemio written in Spanish by Martín de Riquer.
Eisenberg cautions against taking the ambiguous
remarks about the romances of chivalry in Don Quijote as a valid basis
for our knowledge of them. He shows just how hazardous it is to take the
statements of such a fun-loving character as Don Quijote's priest friend
to be representative of Cervantes' true opinions, either as endorsements
or as condemnations. Eisenberg's review of the scholarship on the romances
of chivalry shows that most critics since Cervantes' time have done just
that, perpetuating judgments, mostly negative, which have rarely been confirmed
or rejected by first-hand reading of the works in question. Eisenberg has,
of course, read or closely examined a great majority of them, and he is careful
to accept and repeat only the most reliable assertions of other scholars.
When his extensive research has been unable to solve a particular problem,
he says so. Ideas for various sorts of future studies of the romances of
chivalry appear everywhere, especially in the brief chapter on research
opportunities. Top priority is given to the need for good critical editions
of more of those books.Amadís de Gaula has been fortunate
enough to be edited and studied closely

191

192

SYDNEY P. CRAVENS

Cervantes

down through the centuries. For his part, Eisenberg discusses the
Amadís's roots in Arthurian material, its role as a model,
direct or indirect, for all the sixteenth-century romances of chivalry and
some of its features which are atypical of the genre. He compares the work
of Montalvo to Feliciano de Silva's popular Amadís de Grecia
and finds that Montalvo was much more conservative in narrative and descriptive
techniques and in invention of characters and adventures. Silva's works,
he believes, could be attractive to many twentieth-century readers.
Amadís de Grecia is one of at least ten books from which Eisenberg
takes examples of episodes, characters and plot formulae to construct a composite
summary, with commentary, of a typical romance of chivalry for the scholar
who may choose not to read one of those books in its entirety.
Eisenberg's investigations into the history
of the publication of the romances of chivalry in the sixteenth century reveal
why there were fertile and fallow periods for them and why some were popular
and had many editions, others only one or two. He gives convincing reasons
to believe that the demand for those books came from the nobility and the
wealthy middle class, people with the leisure and money to read such long
and expensive works. He rejects the notion, popularized by Juan Palomeque
the innkeeper in Don Quijote, that it was common practice for the
romances of chivalry to be read by or to peasants or other lower class
folk.
Eisenberg explores at length a point of view
common to practically all the romances of chivalry. It is the pretense that
the book is a true history, very old, written in a language other than Spanish,
found under extraordinary circumstances and then translated into Spanish
by the one who thus disguises his identity as the author. Eisenberg offers
new insights into Cervantes' parody of this pretense in Don Quijote
and clarifies many of the passages which mention romances of chivalry or
features of them. One of these is the priest's apparently contradictory comments
on Tirant lo Blanch. Eisenberg gives his own plausible explanation
of this so-called and often studied pasaje más oscuro del
Quijote.
The information and interpretation presented
in this book should receive only minor quibbles from the few scholars who
happen to know well one or more of the romances of chivalry. Eisenberg's
scholarship is thorough and reliable. It is well documented in abundant
footnotes. He has made the way considerably easier for others who may begin
studies in that area. A few misprints have slipped through the proofreading
process, as have two slight grammatical errors at the end of the chapter
written in Spanish. One of the footnotes is incomplete (p. 109, n. 38). But
these slips in no way diminish the informational and critical value of the
book. The reader is even given some attractive extras in the decorated capital
letters from the original press of Juan de la Cuesta which initiate each
chapter and in four illustrations from Cirongilio de Tracia. This
is a book which may be read with interest and consulted with profit. Dan
Eisenberg's work is our best source of knowledge about the Spanish romances
of chivalry.